Gratitude

Living in a foreign country all by yourself is no easy feat to accomplish. You are introduced to a strange new world filled with unfamiliar faces and a challenging culture.


You find your way through in this place and manage to finally settle down with a group of individuals that you have come to love as much as any other person in this world. They give you strength when you need it the most, they make you laugh when your world seems to crumble, they are the ones that bother to ask you 'how are you' when you look down, they are the ones that best understand you. Above all else, they are the ones that keep coming back regardless of the amount of fights and silent treatment that's been going around.

Friends are bound to disagree on many things and also to abuse one another behind each others' back. But what defines a strong connection between these individuals is when despite all these hardships and the shortcomings of the individuals in the group, the bond is able to look past all that and be strengthened through understanding and acceptance.

I am blessed. For I have come across a group of individuals who are not only tolerant of just about any thing (although we may occasionally make a bit of a noise about things), but also loving and accepting of each other. I don't know what more I can say about this group of friends apart from the fact that I am deeply grateful to see them every single day, to hear their voices, to be able to discern their distinctive laughter (you know who you are), to be able to point to a certain individual when a certain characteristic is raised in a discussion, to be able to get drunk and get sober again with, to be angry but not hateful with, to see things through (especially exams) with, to witness their coming of age, and most importantly, grateful to be able to be a part of their lives and them in mine.

I do not know what I would do without you guys. Thank you for everything.

There will be many more birthdays to come

 many more trips to be made

many more performances to take part in/witness

 many more crazy moments

halloweens

late night suppers 

  and many many many more years to go :)

Ryan, Sha, Wen Ting, Wee Lim, Izzie, Nicole, Michele, Yun Shen, Carmen, Caitlin, Alastair, Pei Qi, Liz and Jun Jing. I am glad and brave enough to call each and everyone of you my bro and sis because that is how much all of you mean to me. I've got your backs, always.